1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for saving power using location information. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for saving power using location information, which can control power consumption of a mobile terminal in a sparse cell environment.
2. Description of Related Art
A wireless local area network (WLAN) service may allow for secure high speed data transmission, but may have comparatively smaller service coverage. Therefore, services using a WLAN may be utilized in an urban area or an area crowded with people, for example, an airport, a shopping mall, and the like; however, the services using a WLAN may be unavailable outside of the service coverage. A wireless broadband Internet (WiBro) service has been introduced to solve the above-described problem and provide high speed mobile data communication to subscribers without restriction to a time and an occasion. However, significant development time is still needed to provide users with the WiBro service which is available without restriction to a time and an occasion through a country in a manner similar to a mobile communication. Accordingly, the WiBro service is similarly expected, at least initially, to only provide hot-spot services based on population-dense areas, as with the wireless LAN service.
A WLAN/WiBro terminal periodically attempts a WLAN/WiBro network search and displays results of the search on a monitor to inform a user of accessibility to a WLAN/WiBro. Here, all corresponding modems should be powered on and therefore the WLAN/WiBro terminal consumes a great amount of power from installed batteries. Also, in comparison to a service coverage of the mobile communication, the WLAN/Wibro service has comparatively narrower service coverage and thus may be very ineffective.
Accordingly, an apparatus and method of saving power using location information, which can control power consumption of a mobile terminal in a sparse cell environment, is needed.